Creativity & Judging Moses

So long as every crisis was dealt with by Moses and miracles, the Israelites remained in a state of dependency. Their default response was complaint. For them to grow to adulthood and responsibility they had to undergo a transition from passive recipients of God’s blessings to active creators. The people had to become God’s “partners in the work of ­creation” (Shabbat 10a). That, I believe, is what the sages meant when they said, “Call them not ‘your children’ but ‘your ­builders’” (­Berakhot 64a). People have to become builders if they are to grow from childhood to adulthood.

Lessons in Leadership; A Weekly Reading of the Jewish Bible, Teruma; The Home We Build Together 8

§ The Sages taught: There was an incident involving Rabbi Yoḥanan ben Beroka and Rabbi Elazar ben Ḥisma, when they went to greet Rabbi Yehoshua in Peki’in. Rabbi Yehoshua said to them: What novel idea was taught today in the study hall? They said to him: We are your students and we drink from your water, i.e., all of our Torah knowledge comes from you, and therefore how can we tell you something you have not already learned? He said to them: Even so, there cannot be a study hall without a novelty.

Commentators often judge Moses harshly for this act, interpreting it as a failure of faith or obedience. But I see something different. I see a moment of profound humanity. Moses isn’t disobeying for the sake of rebellion. He’s reverting to a strategy, a crutch, that has helped him survive. He cannot find the words, so he uses what he can.

In a midrash I wrote a few years ago, reflecting on teaching Hebrew to my own students, I imagined what else might have been present at that rock:

Right as Moses was about to hit the rock, there was a young child who was also standing by the rock. As the child looked up, they noticed Moses trying to form words, but the words wouldn’t come out. The child saw Moses’s difficulty and for the first time, they felt seen. As a child with a speech impediment, they realized that the leader that they had admired for so long had the same challenges with words that they did. The water that came out of the rock was really the water of tears flowing from this young child’s eyes — tears of validation and joy, of feeling seen for the first time. Rabbi Jenna Shaw (they/them) is the associate director of Israel campaigns and education at T’ruah. They were ordained in 2023 from the Rabbinical School of Hebrew College in Newton, MA.